Learn With Us

Resources

Guides, articles, and tools for educators, families, and anyone who cares about young children.

A note on how we share

You won’t find a generic download button here. Every resource we’ve developed is shared in conversation - sometimes a quick email, sometimes a call - because context matters, and a handout without a person behind it is rarely the thing you actually need.

This isn’t a gate. It’s a pace. Browse what’s below, and when something lands, reach out and we’ll send the version that fits your situation.

Start Here

Six plain-language primers

If you’re new to our work, begin with these. They’re short, jargon-light, and designed to meet you where you are.

For Families

What is Circle of Security?

A plain-language guide to understanding the framework and how it can help you connect with your child.

Read more →
For Educators

Behavior is Communication

When a child hits, hides, or shuts down - they’re telling you something. An introduction to Emotionally Responsive Practice.

Read more →
Neurodiversity

DIR/Floortime, Play Project & TEACCH: What’s the Difference?

A comparison of three strengths-based approaches to supporting autistic children.

Read more →
For Professionals

What is Reflective Supervision?

Not your typical supervision. A guide to understanding reflective practice and why the parallel process matters.

Read more →
For Educators

The BEAR Program: Bears in the Classroom

How personal teddy bears become emotional anchors that transform classroom culture.

Learn more →
For Programs

Data That Tells Your Story

Tips for early childhood programs on collecting and sharing data that makes invisible work visible.

Coming soon
Our Frameworks

Three proprietary approaches

Tools and methodologies we’ve built over 20+ years of practice. Each is introduced below; the full versions are shared in consultation.

BEARS Web of Possibilities Circle of Security Parenting

The BEARS Framework

A relationship-based, play-centered methodology developed by ConnectEd Circles to cultivate emotional resilience, psychological safety, and community connection in early childhood environments.

B

Being You

Identity formation and belonging

E

Emotional Development

Recognition & healthy expression of affect

A

Access of Knowledge

Curiosity-driven exploration

R

Relationships

Trust & secure caregiver attachment

S

Safety

Predictable psychological holding spaces

For Facilitators

Train-the-Trainer Manual

A comprehensive facilitator’s guide built around the belief that “teachers need what children need.” Grounded in the SPIRIT of BEAR Circles, it includes sample circle agendas, facilitation prompts, bibliotherapy guides, and attunement practices.

The manual outlines a four-phase rollout: Foundational BEAR Circles → Coaching Circles → Monthly Check-ins → Sustainability Circles that train the next generation of facilitators.

Inquire About This Resource →
For Educators

6-Month Getting Started Checklist

A practical, half-year implementation matrix guiding teachers through integrating the BEAR Program into their classrooms step by step.

  • Month 1: Connect & Plan - identify ready classrooms, gather bears, introduce to families
  • Month 2: Meet the Bears - naming, photo boards, co-regulation routines
  • Month 3: Sing & Read - bear songs, feelings bibliotherapy
  • Month 4: Everyday Bear Life - circle time, nap transitions, conflict resolution
  • Month 5: Building Bear Homes - safety metaphor through structural play
  • Month 6: Reflect & Expand - feelings check-ins, classroom communication board
Request This Tool →
Curriculum Design

Web of Possibilities Pedagogical Template

A proprietary planning architecture that moves educators away from rigid, compliance-based lesson plans toward a fluid, constructivist, inquiry-driven mapping strategy rooted in child interest and family “Funds of Knowledge.”

Phase 1 - Web of Possibilities Construction

Educators plot a central conceptual node (a topic driven by child interest) and map 7–10 secondary nodes representing potential paths of exploration. Family Funds of Knowledge surveys are explicitly reflected in this web, ensuring curriculum remains culturally relevant and grounded in the lived experiences of the community.

Phase 2 - Semester Projections

The sprawling web is distilled into broad longitudinal projections for the semester, ensuring that the theoretical possibilities maintain a cohesive narrative arc over time.

Phase 3 - Monthly Intentions & Narrowing

Educators review the 7–10 conceptual ideas and purposefully select 2–3 specific intentions for the upcoming month. Selection criteria require that the chosen ideas have concrete, observable connections to the play and work currently unfolding in the classroom.

Phase 4 - Practical Brainstorming & Execution

For each monthly intention, educators use a structured matrix to plan the rollout: selecting specific classroom materials, formulating verbal and non-verbal provocations, identifying community co-thinkers to invite, and engineering the physical environment to support the exploration.

Inquire About This Template →
Family Support

Circle of Security Parenting Resources

ConnectEd Circles offers expert COSP facilitation in both English and Spanish. Our team has developed an extensive library of customized visual and textual assets to help caregivers navigate complex attachment dynamics.

Top of the Circle

The Secure Base - where caregivers support a child’s outward exploration: watching over them, delighting in them, helping them, and enjoying them.

Bottom of the Circle

The Safe Haven - where children return for comfort: welcoming them, protecting them, comforting them, and helping organize their feelings.

For Families

The Caregiver Workbook

A comprehensive 40+ page interactive manual featuring the COSP Learning Pyramid. Includes vital inter-session reflective prompts (“Where is my child on the Circle?” and “What is my child feeling?”) designed to translate theory into daily parental observation.

All 8 Chapters

Chapter-by-Chapter 1-Pagers

Synthesized, highly accessible summaries for all eight COSP program chapters - designed for parents (focusing on the “Big Idea”) and facilitators (focusing on “Key Facilitation Moves” and the “Tone to Set”).

Key Concepts

Hidden in Plain Sight · Being With · Shark Music · Rupture & Repair

Hidden in Plain Sight demystifies the myth of perfect parenting. Being With teaches emotional containment - staying present with a child’s intense feelings rather than rushing to fix them. Shark Music explains how unresolved caregiver trauma creates “background noise” that distorts how we read a child’s cues. Rupture and Repair normalizes relational fractures - teaching that repair is what builds durable security.

Caregiver Directive

Bigger, Stronger, Wiser & Kind

The BSWK directive guides caregivers to maintain necessary authority while projecting profound emotional warmth - completely avoiding the traps of being “Mean, Weak, or Gone.” High-impact visual callouts developed by our team make this principle immediately actionable.

All COSP resources available in English and Spanish.  Contact us to learn more →

The Library

Handouts, guides & practitioner tools

Clinical handouts, family guides, and practitioner tools built over years of direct work. Resources are shared in context - so jump to your part of the library, find what speaks, then reach out.

For Families For Educators & Coaches For Programs & Administrators

For Families

Autism · Ages 0–3

Autism Assessments & OT Services

Asheville/Buncombe diagnostic and occupational therapy provider directory for families with children 0–3. Lists CDSA, TEACCH, Matone, CReATE, and OT providers with Medicaid status noted.

Request this guide →
Autism · Ages 3–5

Autism & ADHD Assessments One-Pager

Expanded version covering ages 3–5, including ADHD assessment information, IEP evaluation process, and school district contacts. Essential pre-diagnosis navigation tool.

Request this guide →
Ages Under 5 · WNC

Buncombe County Autism Resources

Expanded resource map covering diagnostics, therapies, insurance and cost, bilingual support options, and typical wait times for families with children under five in Buncombe County.

Request this guide →
Communication

Say It With Objects

A parent guide based on Catherine Faherty’s work. Covers the 4-stage journey from transition objects to communication systems, with a 5-week implementation roadmap for daily routines.

Request this guide →
Daily Routines

Using Object Schedules at Home

Step-by-step parent guide for creating object schedules at home. Covers snack time, bath time, and bedtime routines using First/Then and “All Done” concepts. Two versions available.

Request this guide →
Toileting

Autism with Toileting: A Guide for Parents

A practical, compassionate guide for supporting autistic children through the toileting process - addressing sensory sensitivities, routine predictability, and communication strategies specific to toilet learning.

Request this guide →
Attachment

Field Guide to Connection

A 7-part parent guide rooted in Circle of Security principles. Covers Shark Music, Uninvited Guests from the past, Everyday Translation, and staying connected under pressure.

Request this guide →
Neurodivergent Families

Field Guide to Connection - ADHD Edition

COS principles adapted for neurodivergent preschoolers. Uses the “race car brain” metaphor and focuses on the Going Out/Coming In rhythm specific to high-energy, dysregulated children.

Request this guide →
Neurodivergent Families

Circle of Security for ADHD Child

“The Anchor in the Storm” - a comprehensive COSP adaptation for families parenting neurodivergent children. Addresses the unique attachment dynamics that emerge when a child’s nervous system requires constant co-regulation.

Request this guide →
Attachment

Holding the Circle

A raw, authentic-voice guide for parents tackling the hardest parts of caretaking - their own ghosts, their own shark music - while parenting a child whose needs push every edge. Honest where most guides are reassuring.

Request this guide →
General Parenting

Toddler Screen Time Guidelines

A research-grounded, non-judgmental guide to screen time for families of toddlers. Focuses on the relational context of media use rather than simple time limits.

Request this guide →
Community

Resources for LGBTQIA+ Families

A curated list of affirming community resources for LGBTQIA+ families and the early childhood educators who support them. Reflects ConnectEd Circles’ commitment to queer-affirming, anti-oppressive practice.

Request this guide →

For Educators & Coaches

BEARS · Coaching

BEARS Coach Facilitator Guide

Step-by-step classroom coaching protocol: Arrive & Observe → Find One Moment → Join the Teacher → Support Thinking → Offer One Small Idea. With the 3-Part Anchor (Notice → Join → Make Meaning).

Inquire about access →
BEARS · Classroom

BEAR Moments: 6 Classroom Scenarios

Detailed narrative vignettes covering toddler drop-off, pre-K play, nonverbal communication, aggression, withdrawal, and trauma play - with coaching responses and reflective questions for each.

Inquire about access →
BEARS · Introduction

Teddy Bears as Guided Play

Teacher onboarding document: Why Teddy Bears, How to Begin, Welcoming Bears into the classroom community, Living with Bears as daily practice, and Reflective Invitations for deeper integration.

Inquire about access →
Clinical Handout

Trauma versus Drama Play

A clinical distinction educators need to make: this handout clarifies the difference between dramatic play and traumatic play reenactment, with guidance on when to observe, when to join, and when to redirect.

Inquire about access →
Reflection Tool

A Simple Reflection for Teachers

A post-interaction reflection checklist for bear-based play moments. Structured to take under 5 minutes and designed to build the habit of noticing relational dynamics without adding to educator burden.

Inquire about access →
COSP · Facilitation

COS One-on-One Companion Guide

Full 8-session COSP facilitator guide adapted for home visits. Each session includes flow, key concepts, reflective prompts, and between-session practices - adapted for Child First and similar home visiting models.

Inquire about access →
BEARS · Framework

BEARS 3-Part Anchor

Defines the Notice → Join → Make Meaning framework with both a Teacher Lens and a Coach Lens. The foundational clinical tool underlying all BEARS coaching interactions - used independently or alongside the Facilitator Guide.

Inquire about access →
BEARS · Educator Handout

Why Teddy Bears in Guided Play

A coaching handout explaining the relational and clinical rationale for using teddy bears as therapeutic tools - the “why” behind the practice, in accessible language educators can share with skeptical colleagues or administrators.

Inquire about access →
BEARS · Community Programs

Welcome Bear (Playgroups & Libraries)

A family handout for public playgroup and library program settings. Helps facilitators introduce the BEARS concept to caregivers who are new to the approach in community (non-classroom) contexts.

Inquire about access →
COSP · Parent Handouts

COS Parent Chapter Handouts

Eight chapter handouts for parents: The Circle, All the Way Around, Being With, OK and Not OK, Shark Music, Hands on the Circle, Rupture and Repair, and Good Enough. Designed as take-homes for each group session.

Inquire about access →

For Programs & Administrators

BEARS · Scope of Work

BEAR Program Scope of Work

Complete professional development package description. Outlines four components: Workshops, Coaching Labs, Ongoing Support, and Sustainability - with clear deliverables, timelines, and investment information for each phase.

Request program details →
BEARS · Scalable Model

BEARS Implementation & Leadership Model

A summary of the scalable model for embedding BEARS across a center or school system. For directors and coaches who want to build internal capacity to sustain the program beyond the initial training period.

Request program details →

All resources are shared based on context and need. There is no generic download link - we want to make sure you receive the version that’s right for your situation.

Request a Resource →
The Reading Room

Read, listen, watch, find help

A curated list of the teachers we keep returning to. Books are linked to Firestorm Books & Coffee—an Asheville worker-owned bookstore we’d rather see you support than a big-box retailer.

Read Listen Watch Find Help

Read — the teachers we keep returning to

Emotionally Responsive Practice

Lesley Koplow

Unsmiling Faces: How Preschools Can Heal, Creating Schools That Heal, and Bears, Bears Everywhere!—the originating texts for the BEAR Program and Bank Street’s ERP lineage.

Find at Firestorm →
Transitional Objects

D. W. Winnicott

Playing and Reality. Where the language of transitional objects, the “good enough” parent, and the space between self and other all come from. Dense, lyrical, worth the work.

Find at Firestorm →
Polyvagal Theory

Stephen Porges & Deb Dana

Porges’s The Polyvagal Theory and Dana’s Anchored and The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy. The neuroscience of co-regulation, translated for clinical use. Dana is the warmer door in.

Find at Firestorm →
Neurodiversity-Affirming

Mona Delahooke

Beyond Behaviors and Brain-Body Parenting. The most accessible bridge between polyvagal neuroscience and day-to-day practice. Rejects compliance-based models without moralizing.

Find at Firestorm →
Parenting & Attachment

Daniel Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson

The Whole-Brain Child, No-Drama Discipline, and The Power of Showing Up. Interpersonal neurobiology for parents and educators in plain language, with scripts.

Find at Firestorm →
Children’s Play

Vivian Gussin Paley

The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter, You Can’t Say You Can’t Play, and the stories-and-storytelling practice that shaped a generation of early childhood teachers.

Find at Firestorm →
Early Brain Development

Jack Shonkoff

From Neurons to Neighborhoods—the foundational science synthesis on early childhood development. Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child is the plain-language companion.

Find at Firestorm →
Developmental Trauma

Bruce Perry

The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and What Happened to You? (with Oprah Winfrey). The ChildTrauma Academy’s neurosequential model, made accessible through clinical stories.

Find at Firestorm →
Childhood Trauma

Lenore Terr

Too Scared to Cry. The foundational work on childhood trauma memory and post-traumatic play. Still the clearest thinking on why trauma play is not drama play.

Find at Firestorm →
Play Therapy

Eliana Gil

Play in Family Therapy and The Healing Power of Play. Family-systems play work for children who have experienced trauma, loss, or complex family dynamics.

Find at Firestorm →
Somatic Practice

Peter Levine & Bonnie Badenoch

Levine’s Waking the Tiger and Badenoch’s The Heart of Trauma. Somatic Experiencing and interpersonal neurobiology for practitioners who work through the body first.

Find at Firestorm →
Circle of Security

Hoffman, Cooper, Powell & Benton

Raising a Secure Child. The Circle of Security team’s parent-facing book—the one we most often hand to families coming out of a COSP group.

Find at Firestorm →
From Our Team

Gabriel Guyton — NAEYC

“Using Toys to Support Infant-Toddler Learning and Development” (Young Children, NAEYC, 2011)—an article by our co-founder on how the objects in a room scaffold early communication.

Read at NAEYC →

Listen — podcasts for the drive home

Parenting

Tina Payne Bryson

Short, warm episodes from the co-author of The Whole-Brain Child and The Power of Showing Up. Grounded in interpersonal neurobiology, delivered without jargon.

Find the podcast →
Attachment & Trauma

The Place We Find Ourselves

Adam Young’s podcast on attachment, story work, and the healing of childhood trauma. Measured pace, clinically grounded, accessible to non-clinicians.

Listen →
Interpersonal Neurobiology

Being Human

Richard Schwartz and collaborators on Internal Family Systems, attachment, and the science of being a body in relationship. For practitioners who want the adult-therapeutic register.

Listen →

Watch — short videos worth your time

15 min

Alexandra Sacks TED Talk

“A new way to think about the transition to motherhood.” The clearest public articulation of matrescence we know—linked in our parental ambivalence glossary entry.

Watch →
Video series

Mona Delahooke

Short videos on co-regulation, pathological demand avoidance, and working with dysregulated children. Clinically precise, delivered in plain language.

YouTube channel →
Bank Street

Lesley Koplow & CERP

Bank Street’s Center for Emotionally Responsive Practice posts talks, lectures, and classroom footage—including Koplow on why a bear is a doorway into a child’s feelings.

CERP resources →

Find Help — directories and crisis lines

In an immediate crisis, call or text 988—the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, 24/7, and staffed by counselors trained to listen. You do not have to be suicidal to call.

Crisis

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

Free, confidential support 24/7 by call, text, or chat. Press 1 for Veterans, 2 for Spanish. Available to anyone in emotional distress.

988lifeline.org →
Perinatal Mental Health

Postpartum Support International

Helpline 1-800-944-4773 (call or text). Provider directory for perinatal mental health specialists. Free peer support groups for parents and partners.

postpartum.net →
COSP Directory

Circle of Security International

Global directory of trained Circle of Security Parenting facilitators. Our team is on it; so are providers in most US states and many countries.

Find a facilitator →
NC Infant Mental Health

NCIMHA Referral Network

The North Carolina Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Association maintains provider listings and can help families locate IMH-E® endorsed clinicians in their region.

ncimha.org →
NICU Parents

Hand to Hold

Parent-founded organization offering peer support for NICU and pediatric-ICU families, plus bereavement support. The essays and podcasts here name what the research now names clearly.

handtohold.org →
NICU Parents

Graham’s Foundation

Care packages, peer mentors, and practical support for families of micro-preemies and extended NICU stays. Free, parent-led, and structured around the actual shape of a NICU year.

grahamsfoundation.org →
Trusted Partners

Resources we trust

Organizations and tools we regularly recommend to families and educators.

ZERO TO THREE

National nonprofit with resources on infant and toddler development, policy, and practice.

Circle of Security International

Home of the Circle of Security parenting program - find groups, trainings, and resources.

Bank Street Center for Emotionally Responsive Practice

Professional development and resources grounded in the emotionally responsive approach.

The Play Project

Evidence-based autism intervention that trains parents to be their child’s best play partner.

National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations

Resources, training, and technical assistance for implementing the Pyramid Model.

Buncombe Partnership for Children

Local Smart Start partnership serving Buncombe County families and early childhood professionals.

NC Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Association

NC’s hub for infant mental health workforce development and IMH-E® endorsement.

Have a question about a resource?

We’re happy to point you toward the right tools, trainings, and supports for your specific needs.

Ask Us →